Why is this goal important?
Despite decades of progress in cleaning up water pollution, hundreds of lakes, rivers and streams in Minnesota are not clean enough. 

“Impaired waters” are those streams, rivers and lakes that currently do not meet applicable water-quality standards and pose risks to aquatic life, people and recreation.

Our water resources provide the base for Minnesota’s $10 billion a year tourism industry.

The value Minnesota places on its water resources and the importance of water resources to tourism, economic growth and community growth make this a priority issue for the state.

Every survey by the Pollution Control Agency and others show that citizens rank protection of surface water as the top environmental priority.

What is the PCA doing to achieve this goal?
Minnesota, as well as every other state in the nation, is required under the federal Clean Water Act to:
   · identify and list surface
      waters that are impaired
      because they fail to meet
      water quality standards;
   · evaluate these polluted
      waters to determine the
      sources of the pollution
      and the amount of
      reduction needed for
      restoration (called Total
      Maximum Daily Load
      reports or TMDL reports;
      and
   · make reasonable progress in cleaning up or restoring these waters.

Currently, Minnesota assesses the water quality for a small percentage of Minnesota's rivers and lakes.

The PCA, with the assistance of the Minnesota Environmental Initiative, consulted stakeholders to produce a policy framework and proposed legislation that included a funding option. The Clean Water Legacy Act passed in 2006, has helped maintain and increase progress addressing impaired waters.

How is PCA's progress?
Overall, the PCA has identified 781 impairments to water bodies in Minnesota due to excessive nutrients, bacteria, sediment, ammonia, turbidity and other “conventional” pollutants. When the pollutant mercury is included in the count, the list of impaired waters in Minnesota is nearly 2300. Restoration of water quality will take time, decades in some cases.

The PCA does not have the capacity to produce TMDL reports in a timely manner and the PCA is falling behind in meeting the schedule for producing reports. The lack of capacity delays the implementation of plans leading to the restoration of water quality.

The 2007 Legislature appropriated funds to fully implement a 10-year monitoring strategy for the state that will result in assessing Minnesota’s lakes and streams over a 10-year period.

Learn more at:
The PCA's Impaired Waters Web page
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/tmdl/index.html
The PCA’s 2003 Impaired Waters Report to the Legislature http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/reports/lrwq-s-lsy03.pdf
Clean Water Legacy Act case study samples
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/wq-iw3-08.pdf
 

Why is this goal important?
Clean air means healthier people.
   · Air pollution can cause breathing problems, itchy throat and burning eyes, make asthma
      and bronchitis worse and it can contribute to cancer, heart attacks and other serious
      illnesses.
   · Even healthy, athletic adults can be harmed by breathing air pollutants.

Clean air means a healthier economy.
   · According to a 1999 study done for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, violating the
      federal ozone standard could cost Minnesota businesses and consumers between $189
      and $266 million a year to meet new federal requirements (1998 dollars).
   · A 2000 study by the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota
      estimated that air pollution from transportation sources in the Twin Cities were responsible
      for nearly one billion dollars in health-related and other costs in 1998.

What is the PCA doing to achieve this goal?
The air pollutants of greatest concern – ozone and fine particles – come from multiple places such as:
   · power plants, factories and incinerators (called point sources),
   · light industry and commercial and residential developments (called area sources), and
   · cars, trucks, buses, airplanes, trains, off-road vehicles and small engines (called mobile
      sources).

The PCA wants to build on the success of our strong air quality program that addresses pollution from point sources (e.g. power plants, factories and incinerators). Previous efforts have successfully lowered emissions from these larger stationary sources.

To improve Minnesota’s air quality, the PCA will work with partners in the community to reduce air pollution. Reductions from mobile sources will preferably come through voluntary efforts such as:
   · Seeking the early adoption of cleaner fuel and technology, and
   · Working with businesses, environmental groups, government and other organizations
      through the Clean Air Minnesota effort. (More information about the Clean Air Minnesota
      partnership is available on the Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Web site:
      http://www.mn-ei.org/air/index.html)

How is PCA's progress?
The PCA pursues strategic goals to meet federal and state air quality standards for ozone and fine particles and reduce the release of pollutants that contribute to ozone and fine particles because:
   · Multiple air pollution alerts have been issued since 2001;
   · Ozone and fine particles levels have been more than 80 percent of the new federal standard
      during the past four years; and
   · The current federal air quality standard for fine particles does not adequately protect the
      public’s health.
               
The cool summer of 2004 provided weather conditions that did not promote ozone formation in the Twin Cities. Correspondently, the PCA did not issue any air quality alerts for ozone in 2004 or 2005. Fine particle levels caused numerous air alerts throughout 2004 and 2005, as seen in the graphic. The PCA continues to develop partnerships to reduce fine particles as well extend air quality monitoring throughout Minnesota.

The use of the alternative fuel E85 is much greater in Minnesota than the rest of the United States and the PCA will continue to encourage Minnesotans to use E85 to improve air quality. Governor Pawlenty signed an Executive Order in the fall of 2004 directing state government to reduce air pollution. The order suggests state agencies increase the use of E85 in their fleet of vehicles. The Pawlenty Administration continues to energetically encourage the use of E85 by all Minnesotans.

Use of E85 in flexible fuel vehicles in the PCA fleet increased recently, but continues at levels below the goal. Meeting the aggressive alternative fuel goal for the PCA’s fleet will require further education of staff on the use of alternative fuels in PCA vehicles whenever possible. The PCA also seeks to purchase E85 capable vehicles whenever possible. Vehicles that can use E85 are the only types of alternative fuel vehicles in the PCA’s current fleet.

 

Learn more at:
Governor Pawlenty’s Executive Order
Air Quality Index (AQI) for Minnesota
http://aqi.pca.state.mn.us
The PCA's Minnesota’s Air Web page
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/air/index.html
The PCA’s 2003 Air Quality in Minnesota Report to the Legislature
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/reports/lr-airqualityreport-2003.html
 

Why is this goal important?
The major environmental laws in the United States and Minnesota apply regulations to individual businesses or city facilities with facility permits to control pollution released by businesses and wastewater plants.

A permit does not eliminate pollution coming from a facility, but it does establish conditions that should minimize the environmental harm caused by the pollution.

The increased complexity of environmental laws and the requirement for public participation has caused the permitting process to become difficult to manage.

Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Minnesota Legislature have sought improvements in the timeliness of permit issuance by the PCA.

In 2002, the Office of the Legislative Auditor reviewed the PCA’s water quality permit program and identified a number of deficiencies (the entire report is available at: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/2002/pe0203.htm).

What is the PCA doing to achieve this goal?
The PCA is applying a variety of process improvement tools to its permitting programs to issue permits quicker and with greater consistency.

One process improvement tool currently in use is the Six Sigma method.

Six Sigma will help the PCA become better informed on how to manage processes, and more focused on maintaining efficiency and effectiveness. This will free up resources that can be applied to new and emerging environmental matters.

The water quality permit process began using the Six Sigma method in the summer of 2003 and established a goal to issue 90% of the permits within 180 days of receipt of the application.

The air quality construction permit process began a Six Sigma in early 2004 and established a goal for the process. The goal for the process calls for 90 percent of the permit applications to receive construction authorization within 150 days of receipt, while maintaining high quality permit conditions.
 
The PCA also established goals for the issuance of air permits for larger facilities (known as Title V permits), though not through a Six Sigma process. The goal, established in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is to have the initial issuance of Title V permits completed by July 1, 2006. This goal does not apply to permits that must be reissued in the normal course of business. The PCA achieved this goal (see the last graph below).

The PCA continues to apply process improvement tools to other permit processes and compliance programs, in order to improve the operations and services of the agency.

How is PCA's progress?
In the summer of 2004, the PCA began implementing the changes in the wastewater permit process. The PCA has seen continued improvement in the issuance of permits for wastewater facilities since the Six Sigma process began. The PCA will continue to review the process and make changes to achieve the process goal.

The process improvements allow the PCA to continue achieving its goal of maintaining the percent of expired permits for smaller wastewater facilities at less than 10 percent.
The PCA chose to issue permits to the facilities with the largest emissions first and extended the goal to July 1, 2006, to accommodate the final batch of permits still in process. The percent of air quality permits for large facilities that received their initial permit reached 100 percent by the July 2006 deadline.

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